I replaced the pickups on my LS200 twice. The first time was about a week after I bought the guitar, because I had a clear picture in my mind of my perfect les paul and that picture involved the SD alnico II pro's I had in my epiphone at the time. I never really gave the Gotohs a chance but they weren't 4-conductor and I wanted to be able to split them, so they were out by default.

I had them in there for several years and was very happy, but when I got my tele this year I began hearing things in a different light and suddenly felt that the love rock's bridge pickup in particular was a little dark and underpowered. I wanted something vintage-y with a little more kick and brightness than the APH's so I bought a set of bareknuckle mules. WOW. I was happy enough before but I never knew what I was missing; this was a night-and-day transformation and I love my Tokai more than ever!

BK are trying to put together a clip gallery for their stuff but there's quite a few decent customer clips on their forum. None of it does justice to these pickups though.

My switching options are as follows - coil split for each pickup, phase inverter for those peter green moments, and a both-pickups-in-series switch which really fattens up and darkens the tone. A total of 22 non-redundant possible positions. The 4 switches are controlled by push-pull pots so unless you start pulling the control knobs you wouldn't see or hear any difference from normal. The splits need 4-conductor wiring but the phase and series can be done with standard 2-conductor.

Reason: The stock pickups do not give me that quality, that I?m used to. I miss nice (that do not bite you in your ears) treble (the stock pu?s do not have enough treble to me) , dynamics, good bass and great attack! My english is?nt good enough to describe all these special things!
The changing of the pickups is a big step forward, and makes the Tokais sound way better!

I changed all of them against Haeussel Pickups, which are Top of the line PU?s! And they got a soul!

WCR Fillmore set - the stock PUPS on my LS75 were OK, but I wouldn't a more unique, boutique sound, plus I wanted to do the "Jimmy Page" wiring mod.

"Was there a big difference in tone ?"

Yes - hard to describe what the difference is exactly, but there is certainly more clarity with the WCR's and more of a honk that is cool for blues and classic rock.

"Were you happy with the change ? Did you get the tone that you wanted ? Did you sound like the clips on the manufacturer's web sites ?"

I am happy with the change, though it was expensive. I don't know if I have found my dream tone yet - I still need to check out some other brandds, like Bare Knuckles. The PUP's sound close to the clips on the WCR site, but I mainly play through an Orange, which has a very particular tone, so there is a slight difference (most of WCR's clips were recorded with modded, vintage Marshall amps).

Changed the pickups on my LS85F to Lollar Imperials Humbuckers.... really happy with the result. They are really great... a bit expensive though (around 300 euros for the set ), but worth the price that was paid for them . They are handwound and not wax-potted (the original PAF?s were not waxpotted too)

Probably I will do the same to my LS120F someday, because since the change, my lower specs guitar (LS85F) became much better sounding than the LS120F :wink

How do you vote if you replaced pickups on one guitar but not on another and are happy with both?

My problem exactly. I like my Tele and I like my Tokai. ( They are a bit low on treble, but is that normal for a Humbuckler or are there brighter Humbucklers around ? )

But I'm trying to see how to make the Tokai more versatile and get more tones from it.

I really wonder what is more important : adhering to a vintage spec or moving ahead with technology / customer requirements.

I just understood that the EPI Elite series have 4 conductor pickups , but still no switch. Why not ?

Paladin2019 wrote:

My switching options are as follows - coil split for each pickup, phase inverter for those peter green moments, and a both-pickups-in-series switch which really fattens up and darkens the tone. A total of 22 non-redundant possible positions. The 4 switches are controlled by push-pull pots so unless you start pulling the control knobs you wouldn't see or hear any difference from normal. The splits need 4-conductor wiring but the phase and series can be done with standard 2-conductor.

My problem exactly. I like my Tele and I like my Tokai. ( They are a bit low on treble, but is that normal for a Humbuckler or are there brighter Humbucklers around ? )

But I'm trying to see how to make the Tokai more versatile and get more tones from it.

I really wonder what is more important : adhering to a vintage spec or moving ahead with technology / customer requirements.!!

I'd say the most important thing is YOUR requirements, which may or may not involve keeping to vintage spec. Personally, I always try to mix the best qualities of classic and modern design - for example, my tele has a vintage style 3-saddle bridge but a modern 22 fret neck.

If you want a brighter humbucker sound there are plenty out there, not everyone wants to nail the vintage PAF sound! Check out the Bareknuckle Black Dog, it's vintage style with a bit more output and bite.

Web Surf wrote:

I just understood that the EPI Elite series have 4 conductor pickups , but still no switch. Why not ?.

I'm not sure if this is true. If it is, then it just means that epi were future-proofing their product for mod lovers.

Mine is a modified version of the Jimmy Page scheme. You can get the diagram from guitarelectronics.com and all the parts from an Allparts distributor. Your current knobs will fit push-pull pots.

I recommend the scheme that uses two CTS volume pots. Use audio taper for all the pots and if you're going to be re-doing the electronics than fit a switchcraft switch (LONG THREAD version) and jack at the same time. They'll last longer.

My favourite positions, ironically, are stock neck, middle and bridge! I like the tapped neck for jangly rhythm sounds. A split bridge pickup can sound like a tele with the outer coil on or a strat with the inner coil on. I really like splitting both pickups and putting them in series, which creates a humbucker that listens to both ends of the picking area!

I haven't changed the pickups in my Sunburst ES-100. Ishibashi secndhand dealer on ebay hadn't realised they had been changed to Seymour Duncan '59's and the tailpiece had been changed to light aluminium.

Never owned a guitar for more than a few months before changing PUs, at least not in the last 15 years.

Strat types, I like the Texas specials, or even SOAPBARS, Duncan or Gib, hear there are some other cool ones now too! Sound great in a Strat, if you don't mind cutting wood.

All my humbucker guitars get Burstbuckers (#I in the bridge; #II in the neck, I play mostly bass PU solos), or '57 Classics (The "+" model in the neck), by the Voldemort of guitar companies. The one thing they do right these days, for my tastes.

Occassionaly will use a stacked humbucker in the neck of a Strat. Again, I really want that neck PU on everything loud, and "howly". Makes resale impossible, oh well...

My guitar tech did the installation/wiring for me - I don't know which version he used exactly.

All the different positions seem cool to me - I most often use the coil splitting on the neck and bridge PUPs, but I am still playing around with the different tones and trying to figure out which settings work best for certain situations.